SB 105 
, .D21 
Copy 1 






ADDRESS 



before -hie; 



CHESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



AT THEIR FIRST ANNUAL EXHIBITION, IN THE BOROUGH OF 
WEST CHESTER, SEPT. 11, 1848. 



BY WILLIAM DARLINGTON, M. D, 



Dm que 1 ' homme eut soumis les champs a la culture, 
D ' ill) lieureux coin de terre il soigna la parure; 
Et plus pres de ses yeux il rangea sous ses lois 
Des arbres favoria et des fieurs de| son choix. 

Les Jardins. chant. 1. 



i°*;., 



WEST CHESTER, TENN'A, 
1846, 



2 



Wkst Chapter, September 14, 1846. 
Dear Sir : 

At a meeting of the Committee of Arrangement of tha 
Chester county Horticultural Society, held September 12th inst., it 
was on motion, 

(( Resolved, That the thanks of the Committee be tendered to 
Dr. William Darlington for the able and interesting address deliv- 
ered by him at the Horticultural Exhibition on the 11th inst., and 
that a committee be appointed to solicit a copy for publication.' 1 
Whereupon, the undersigned were appointed said committee. 

In communicating to you the foregoing resolution, allow us to 
hope that you will furnish us with a copy of the address alluded to, 
which afforded so much gratification to all who heard it, and which, 
we indulge the anticipation, will be of no small benefit in diffusing 
more extensively through the community a taste for the pleasures of 
Horticulture. With much respect, we remain yours, &c, 

WASHINGTON TOWNSEND, 
B. FRANKLIN PYLE, 
JOHN RUTTER, 
WM. M'CULLOUGH, 
DAVIS GARRETT, jr. 
Dr. Wm. Darlington. 



West Chester, September 15, 1846. 
Gentlemen : 

Your favor of yesterday's date is just received. The 
Address referred to — belonging as it does to the occasion — is, of 
course, at the disposal of the Committee ; and while I could have 
wished it more worthy of the honor intended, I shall nevertheless 
be gratified if the publication may in any way, or in the slightest 
degree, promote the laudable objects of the Society. 
Very respectfully, 



WM. DARLINGTON. 



Messrs. Washington Townsenp, 
B. Franklin Pyle, 
John Rutter, 
Wm. M'Cullougii, 
Davis Garrett, jr. 



ADDRESS, &c. 



Mr. President : Ladies and. Gentlemen 

of the Chester County Horticultural Society : 

The Committee appointed to procure a competent 
person to address you, on this occasion, have, as you per- 
ceive, been rather unsuccessful in their efforts. It was 
their wish, and intention, to provide a Discourse worthy 
of the subject in which you take so lively an interest: 
but failing in that, they have to solicit your indulgence 
for the hasty substitute now about to be offered. The 
duty of preparing that substitute, having been unex- 
pectedly, and at a late hour, assigned to me, — I should 
certainly have shrunk from the task, had I not felt that it 
would seem most ungracious, in a professed admirer of 
Plants, to refuse a co-operation, in any capacity, with 
those who have associated expressly to promote the cul- 
ture of favorite Fruits and Floivers. The theme, more- 
over, is a rich and prolific one ; and he who cannot be in 
some degree inspired by the contemplation of its charms, 

must be 

* * ''duller than the fat weed 

* * * on Lethe wharf." 

I shall therefore venture to trespass on your good na- 
ture, by submitting a few desultory remarks which have 
occurred to me, in reference to the objects of this Society. 

Horticulture, in the comprehensive sense in which 
the term is now understood, is unquestionably one of the 
most elegant and refined — as it is one of the most inter- 



t -i I 

esting — of earthly pursuits. It has for its especial objects, 
the production of the choicest fruits and vegetables — the 
training of the most ornamental trees and shrubbery — 
the culture of the sweetest and most beautiful flowers — 
and the arrangement of the whole in accordance with the 
principles of a refined, disciplined, unsophisticated taste. 
It involves, in short, all that is connected with comfort 
and beauty around our dwellings — all that can gratify the 
palate, delight the eye, or regale the most fastidious of 
the senses. As an enlightened Agriculture indicates a 
superior stage of civilization, in the march of human so- 
ciety — blending, as it does, scientific illustration with eve- 
ry utilitarian process, — so a perfect Horticulture may 
be regarded as the crowning attainment of an intellectual 
and polished people. To borrow a simile from one of the 
noblest of the Arts, — the employments of Man, in the 
successive stages of his advancement, may be compared 
to the principal Orders of ancient Architecture. In the 
savage or hunter state, we find the rude unpolished 
strength of the Tuscan Order. The same rude vigor, 
with the higher finish and symmetry of the Doric, is seen 
in the pastoral stage. The combined strength, stateli- 
ness, and graceful tournure, of the Ionic Order, may be 
considered as the type of the enlightened Agricultural 
stage : while the elegant science of Horticulture — the 
employment and the recreation of Man in his most ele- 
vated condition — may be regarded as the finishing ac- 
complishment of Society — the Corinthian Order of hu- 
man attainments and pursuits. Dedicated to the culture 
and improvement of the choicest productions of the vege- 
table creation, it is a pursuit which requires the united 
qualifications of practical dexterity and scientific skill — 
with a correct perception of the appropriate and beauti- 
ful : And while it thus exacts, and promotes, the highest 
mental accomplishments, it at the same time represses the 
more sordid or grovelling passions, and cherishes the 



[5] 

purer aspirations of the human heart. What can be 
more propitious to elevation of thought, or more conge- 
nial with purity of mind — when rightly considered — than 
the varied attractions of an elegant Garden? It is the 
place of all others — of a temporal character — best fitted 
to refine the feelings, and sublimate the affections. Jl 
Garden was the spot, selected by Divine Wisdom, as the 
appropriate residence of man, while in the state of pri- 
meval innocence : and if ever, on this earth, Man should 
so far improve as to qualify himself for a Paradise re- 
gained, we may fairly infer that the scene of his terres- 
trial bliss will, again, be a perfect and beautiful Garden. 
That the habitual association with interesting plants 
and flowers exerts a salutary influence on the human 
character, is a truth universally felt and understood. No 
one ever dreams of any possibility of mistake, in estimat- 
ing the disposition of those who delight in gardens, rural 
walks and arbours, and the culture of elegant shade trees 
and shrubbery. Who ever anticipated boorish rudeness, 
or met with incivility, among the enthusiastic votaries of 
Flora ? Was it ever known, that a rural residence, taste- 
fully planned, and appropriately adorned with floral 
beauties, was not the abode of refinement and intelli- 
gence? Even the scanty display of blossoms in a win- 
dow — or the careful training of a honey suckle, round a 
cottage door — is an unmistakeable evidence of gentle 
spirits, and an improved humanity, within. There may, 
possibly, be natures so gross, as to be incapable of per- 
ceiving the beauties of the Vegetable Creation — and 
altogether inaccessible to the influences of genuine taste, — 
as it is said, there are persons insensible to the charms of 
the sweetest music : But I can only imagine the exis- 
tence of such unfinished specimens of our kind, as the 
rare exceptions, which logicians say arc the strongest 
proofs of the general rule. They must, indeed, be the ve- 
riest clods that ever fell, untempered,from auld Nature's 



[6] 

'jorentice han\ Shakspeare, as you know, tells us— 
" The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.' 7 

Now, if such be the character of the man who is so un- 
fortunate, in relation to the pleasures of a single sense, — ■ 
what shall we say of him who cannot appreciate the de- 
lights of a rich and beauteous Garden ? delights, which 
appeal so directly to each of the senses — and minister so 
exquisitely to all the jive ! I should say, he was not fit 
even for "spoils" — which, I believe, is the lowest quali- 
fication recognized at the present day : and 1 would hear- 
tily concur in the judgment, pronounced by the bard : — ■ 

' : Let no such man he trusted.'''' 
Such, then, being the nature — the influences and the ten- 
dencies — of Horticulture, in the comprehensive and just 
acceptation of the term, — it is an occasion of sincere 
congratulation, to see the citizens of this ancient county 
awakening to a perception of its benefits, and associating 
to promote its advancement. Having, by their skill and 
industry, made the Agriculture of Chester the admira- 
tion of all observers, — it next becomes an urgent duty to 
make their Gardens, their Orchards, and the Lawns ap- 
pertenant to their dwellings, correspond with the beauty 
and excellence of their farms. The time, indeed, has 
fully arrived, when such a movement is due to our char- 
acter, as a community : for candor will oblige us to con- 
fess, that, while our farming has been managed with 
commendable skill and neatness — we have been sadly 
neglectful of our Horticulture — that elegant department 
of the Profession, which is the crowning attainment of 
an accomplished agricultural people. The true Science 
of Gardening does not come by intuition ; but is to be 
acquired by a rational and studious attention to the opera- 
tion of established laws. The art of increasing the size, 
and improving the quality, of vegetable products — to be 



[V] 

completely successful — demands a close observation of 
natural phenomena, and an intimate acquaintance with 
the physiology of plants. The influence of culture and 
soil, upon vegetable development, is a most interesting 
problem — which has not yet been thoroughly solved, and 
is generally, in fact, but little understood. 

Those plants which have been long under cultivation, 
are continually undergoing modifications in their tissues — 
and producing variations of form, dimensions, texture, 
color, or flavor. This phenomenon is especially remark- 
able in some old favorites, which have been carefully 
nursed for ages ; — such as the Rose and the Tulip, among 
flowers, — and the Pear, the j^pple, and the Peach, among 
fruits : and it is by watching this process in the vegetable 
economy — by a skillful selection and management of the 
best varieties, thus produced, — that the apparently acci- 
dental features and qualities are fixed, or become perma- 
nent ; — establishing what are called races, in the language 
of Botany. It is in this way, that the countless sorts of 
our choice fruits and vegetables have been obtained. — 
They are all mere progressive developments, or modifica- 
tions, of a few wild unpalatable originals, which have 
been gradually tempered and ameliorated by the influ- 
ences of a kindly nourishing soil, a propitious situation, 
and a continued skillful treatment. The sagacious Gar- 
dener avails himself of those occasional developments, — 
and by a careful culture, perpetuates beautiful forms, or 
valuable qualities, which otherwise would be as transient 
as the individual specimens in which they occur. 

If an excellent variety happen in a woody perennial — 
such as a fruit tree, — the original tree — and of course 
the identical sort of. fruit — may be multiplied indefinitely, 
by the process of budding, or ingrafting. If it occur 
in a herbaceous or annual plant, it may often be perpetu- 
ated, as a distinct sort, or race, by a proper attention to 
the culture, and a careful selection of the fairest seed 



[8 I 

planting. This truth is constantly exemplified, m th« 
preservation of distinct varieties, or races, of cultivated 
grains (such as bearded and beardless wheat — white 
wheat — red-chaff, &c), and also in numerous garden ve- 
getables, — in which the peculiarities are fixed, and trans- 
missible to future crops by the seeds. The character of 
the best varieties, yet known, may doubtless be still fur- 
ther improved, by the continued influence of appropriate 
management ; — as is evinced by the specimens annually 
exhibited by the various horticultural societies. 

That these important facts and principles have been but 
little heeded or considered, by a portion of our people, is 
too obvious to be denied. We are bound in honesty to 
admit, that while our Agricultural fellow citizens may 
justly pride themselves on the condition and products of 
their fields, — numbers of them have been utterly neglect- 
ful of their Orchards and Gardens; and have discovered 
no manner of taste in the arrangements around their 
dwellings. There are yet too many instances, in Chester 
County, of tolerably cultivated farms, on which there is 
scarcely any other visible evidence of improvement ; — no 
horticulture — except a paltry, weedy, neglected kitchen 
garden ; no well-selected Orchard of fruit trees ; no green 
sward, nor clustering flowers, nor ornamental shrubbery, 
around the farm-house ; not even a friendly shade-tree, 
to. protect the dwelling from the glare of the summers 
sun. Too often we may see the residence of a substan- 
tial farmer, naked and broiling, as it were, in one of his 
open tree-less fields, — without so much as a palisade to 
keep the stock at a respectful distance from his doors — 
the persecuted cattle contending hopelessly against a 
swarm of flies under the windows of his sitting-room, 
and crowding, as to a place of refuge, into the narrow 
shadow afforded, by the building itself ;— while the un- 
ringed swine are either wallowing in the drain of the 
kitchen — or wantonly rooting up the footway at the very 
entrance to his domicil ! 



m 

How repugnant is such a scene, to every idea of re 
finement and comfort ! How offensive to every corpo- 
real sense — as well as to every sense of moral fitness and 
propriety ! What can be expected from a family, raised 
under circumstances so unpropitious to the formation of 
a correct taste, or the cultivation of the finer feelings ? 
The children so brought up, may, indeed, be fitted to mi- 
grate from such a home — and be prepared to exchange 
it, without regret, for the rude accommodations of our 
wild frontiers : but they can have no conception of the 
sentiments inspired by lovely scenery around the pater- 
nal mansion. They can know nothing of the charms and 
abiding moral influences of a pleasant homestead, upon 
the susceptible minds of the young. Their early years 
being thus destitute, they will necessarily be strangers to 
those precious associations, by which memory renews 
the delights of a happy childhood— and links the dreamy 
enjoyments of youth with the sober realities of after life. 
But, at the present day, there is really no excuse for any 
such culpable improvidence — such boorish negligence of 
all that can adorn a country residence, or afford the com- 
forts of a rural home. 

There is no necessity, in this climate and country, for 
any family to be destitute of the luxuries derived from 
the Garden and the Orchard ; and consequently, no apolo- 
gy can be offered for those sluggards, who neglect to 
plant for themselves,— and yet, in the season of fruits, 
have the assurance recklessly to trespass upon their 
more provident neighbors. Such persons do not merely 
violate good manners, by their rudeness : they train up 
those about them with exceedingly loose notions of 
moral honesty. It is high time there was a reformation 
wrought among such people: and I firmly believe there 
can be no agency devised, so efficacious in promoting that 
reform, as Institutions of the kind wbich I have now the 
honor to address. They propose, by a general co-opera- 

2 



[10] 

tion, to make the culture of vegetable delicacies so uni- 
versal, and so productive, that there shall be neither pre- 
text nor motive for the plundering of Orchards and Gar- 
dens. They demonstrate the practicability of their gen- 
erous purpose, by the most encouraging examples ;— and 
good examples, happily, are sometimes contagious, as 
well as those which are evil We may, therefore, rea- 
sonably hope to see a decisive movement among our 
people, in reference to gardening, and the cultivation of 
choice fruit. I hold that every farmer, great and small, 
every occupant of soil, whether he reckon by acres, or by 
perches, — is bound to plant, and provide the products of 
the Orchard and Garden — in justice to his neighbors, as 
well as to his own family: and they can all perform that 
obvious duty, if they choose. There is nothing wanting 
to effect that desirable object, but the will; and a correct 
public sentiment would avail much in controlling and re-- 
gulating the volitions of the inconsiderate. There is 
scarcely a house-holder in the community, who does not 
occupy a lot sufficient for a garden, — or who has not 
room for a few select fruit trees. It is a mere idle pretext, 
for any one to allege that he has no space, nor leisure, for 
their cultivation. I doubt whether there be a tenement 
in the land (there surely need not be), which has not 
ground enough annexed to admit, for example, a Peach 
tree, a May-duke cherry, an Apricot, a Pear tree, and a 
Grape vine. These are the fruits so universally and 
eagerly run after, in their season ; and one or more of 
these popular favorites could certainly be accommodated 
about the humblest cottage in Chester county. It, will 
never do, therefore, for those who can find time to rob 
the Orchards of their neighbors, to pretend that they have 
not leisure to plant a tree or two at their own doors.— 
Such unworthy practices, and dishonest subterfuges, 
should be promptly shamed, or frowned, out of existence. 
I have thought I could already perceive, in our vicinity, 



[11] 

evidences of a growing disposition to cultivate both use- 
ful and ornamental trees and shrubbery. Unquestiona- 
bly, as the exhibition before us abundantly demonstrates, 
there has been a decided advance in the production of 
choice garden vegetables, — and in the taste for cultivat- 
ing rare and beautiful flowers. For this improvement, 
we have been chiefly indebted to the labors and example 
of the spirited pioneers, who prepared the way for the 
establishment of this Society. These public benefactors 
have presented us with new views of what may be done 
for a community, by an enlightened Horticulture : and 
wore it not for the awkardness of jjerscuial allusions, in 
the presence of the parties, I should be tempted to notice 
more explicitly, than I shall now venture to do, the 
commendable zeal of our worthy President, — and the 
exemplary efforts of a Rutter and a Rivintjs — a Town- 
send and a Garrett — a Hoopes, a Taylor, a M'Ilvain, 
a Steele, a Hartman, a Strode, an Embree, and a 
Stromberg — with other valuable co-laborers in the noble 
cause.* Not satisfied with showing us, by their several 
examples, what can be done by individual enterprize in 
behalf of horticulture, they sought to concentrate the en- 
ergies of its friends in a united effort for its advancement. 
They established this Institution, — and invited the co-op- 
eration of every one who feels an interest in its laudable 
objects. In this movement, too — as always when benefits 
are to be conferred upon our race — they have been hap- 
pily sustained by the countenance and participation of 
the Gentler Sex. 

With such purposes, and under such auspices, we can- 
not but anticipate the most satisfactory results. As already 

* In any notice of the public-spirited lew, who Jed the way in 
introducing an improved Horticulture among us, it would be inex- 
cusable not to mention the laudable example of the Misses Ben- 
nett, of this Borough — who were among the foremost in cultivating 
Vegetables of a superior quality, and showing how our market may 
be supplied with tho choicest products of the Gaiden. 



[12 j 

remarked, the agency of the Society, in extending infor- 
mation, and awakening a perception of the beautiful, 
cannot fail to be salutary : for the example of a pure taste 
has an irresistible influence upon all minds which are not 
utterly insensible to the beauties of Nature and Art. 

As the classic Portico which adorns our village, will 
be a sure guarantee against the erection of any uncouth 
pile in its vicinity, — so will the display of true taste, and 
the exhibition of practical skill, in Horticulture, neces- 
sarily influence all who have the slightest aptitude for 
improvement; and will eventually banish from amongst 
us every vestige of barbarism, in the decoration of our 
grounds and the management of our gardens. 

The great charm of the scenery, so universally felt by 
those who visit our mother country, consists in the high 
state of its Agriculture, and the admirable fitness, and 
symmetry, in the arrangements of the gardens, and of 
the lawns, trees, and shrubbery, around the dwellings. 
These are every way worthy of our studious attention — 
and present the purest models for our instruction, in the 
art of embellishing rural residences. 

Washington Irving — whose judgment in the premi- 
ses will scarcely be questioned — remarks, that "the taste 
of the English in the cultivation of land, and in what is 
called Landscape Gardening, is unrivalled. They have 
studied nature intently, and discovered an exquisite sense 
of her beautiful forms and harmonious combinations. — 
Those charms which in other countries she lavishes in 
wild solitudes, are here assembled around the haunts of 
domestic life. They seem to have caught her coy and 
furtive graces, and spread them like witchery about their 
rural abodes." 

Why should not we, also, commence the capture and 
domestication of those " coy and furtive graces," which 
a bountiful Nature — or rather, a beneficent Providence — 
has lavished upon our own country, — and which haunt 



[13] 

every Glen, and Valley, and Hill-side, and Mountain top, 
throughout our favored land ? 

To aid us in this enterprise, we have the elegant and 
instructive works of Loudon, upon the art as practised in 
the old world, — and of our accomplished countryman, 
Downing, upon the theory and practice of Landscape 
Gardening, adapted to North America. By the gentle- 
man last named, we have been supplied with a scientific 
treatise upon the Fruits and Fruit-trees of our country — 
as well as with instruction in the best modes of laying 
out and adorning our grounds: and he is, moreover, at 
this time, publishing a highly interesting monthly Maga- 
zine, intitled "The Horticulturist, and Journal of 
Rural Art and Rural Taste."* Conducted by such 
guides — and profiting by the sagacious experience of all 
nations, — if we are docile, attentive, and persevering, we 
can scarcely fail to accomplish the objects of our Associ- 
ation. We may hope to be efficiently instrumental in 
arousing the public mind, throughout our ancient baili- 
wick, to a just sense of the importance and value of a 
perfect Horticulture. A French king, we are told, ac- 
quired some celebrity by uttering the benevolent wish, 
that he could supply a chicken to the dinner-pot of each 
of his subjects. That was a mere ebullition of kind feel- 
ing, on the part of Royalty, — and really added nothing 
to the meagre dinners of the French people : But the 
operations and tendencies of Societies such as ours, are 
calculated to effect something more than mere good 
wishes. An improved Horticulture will not only fill the 
dinner-pots with all sorts of nutritious esculents — but it 

* To instruct us in the management of the Flower and Kitchen 
Garden, we have "The American Gardener's Calendar," by the late 
Bernard M'Mahon— one of the pioneers, among us, in the good 
work of teaching Horticulture. Although his book was published 
forty years ago, it is, in my opinion, about as well adapted to our 
wants— and as replete with good practical common sense— as any 
thing of the kind which has yet appeared in our country. 



[14] 

will load the tables, of all who attend to its teachings, 
with every variety of delightful fruits. The Majesty of 
France indulged in a vain aspiration: but ive look to sub- 
stantial benefits — and to the certain means of conferring 
them. 

By well-directed efforts, we may also be the means of 
causing those beautiful visions to be yet realized, which 
were long since entertained, in Chester county, by a few 
choice spirits within her borders. At an early day — 
when the perceptive faculties of the masses were unim- 
proved by Education, and blunted by the unavoidable 
drudgery of a rude Agriculture, — our County produced 
men whose taste and refinement were so far in advance 
of the times, that they actually dreamt of pleasure- 
grounds, and Botanic Gardens; — and consequently, those 
strange conceits were very imperfectly appreciated, by 
their contemporaries. A Botanic Garden was then con- 
sidered as one of the practical vagaries of an eccentric 
mind — the embodyment of a monomania — instead of be- 
ing prized as a nursery of taste, and an instrument of know- 
ledge — a means by which the value of new discoveries, 
and the practicability of their culture, may be speedily 
and economically tested, for the information of all. Yet, 
even in the midst of that intellectual fog, there were 
minds (and honored be their memory!) whose radiance 
could illustrate the importance of such Institutions, — and 
whose energies could effect their introduction. 

If I mistake not, the second Garden in this confedera- 
ted Empire of Republics (the Jirst being also in this 
State,) designed for the culture and distribution of rare 
and valuable plants, was established at Marshallton, in 
Chester county; — and Humphrey Marshall, its vener- 
able founder, was the author of the first treatise upon 
our vegetable treasures, that was issued from the Ameri- 
can Press. His example, in founding a Botanic Garden, 
was soon followed by another estimable citizen of the 



[15] 

county — -the lalo amiable John Jackson, of Londou 
grove. A third exemplification of rural taste and ele- 
gance, was furnished by the brothers, Samuel and 
Joshua Pierce, of East Marlborough, — who, by their 
splendid collection of Evergreens, and other kindred em- 
bellishments, have made their farm one of the most de- 
lightful rural residences within this commonwealth. 

What those worthy citizens accomplished, from the 
promptings of their own good taste — when there were 
few to appreciate, and none to co-operate — may surely 
be attempted by us, — now that the progress of refine- 
ment, all around us, not only invites to the performance, 
but reproves our delay in the undertaking. 

Let us resolve, then, to persevere in the good work, 
until our beautiful Science shall have diffused its bless- 
ings over this entire community — and all its mysteries 
and manipulations shall be as familiarly understood, as 
are the simplest processes of Agriculture. Let the acqui- 
sition of skill, and a thoroughly disciplined taste, be our 
constant aim: for we may rely upon it, that fruitful gar- 
dens, and embellished farms, will as surely follow those 
attainments, as the brilliance of day results from the ris- 
ing of an unclouded sun. 

Let us endeavor to hasten the period, when our County 
shall be as eminent in Horticulture, as in the other de- 
partments of rural economy — and when our Village 
shall be known throughout the land, as a favorite seat of 
Science and Refinement, — equally distinguished for the 
intelligence and urbanity of its people — the number and 
excellence of its scholastic Institutions — the rich produc- 
tiveness and the tasteful elegance of its Gardens. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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